This invention relates generally to systems, methods, and apparatuses for fluoride ion cleaning, and more specifically to in situ generation and capture of hydrogen fluoride gas used to clean components, including components comprising superalloy material.
Fluoride Ion Cleaning (FIC) is used to remove oxides from field-run hot gas path components in preparation for subsequent braze repair operations. Current FIC techniques either suffer from reduced effectiveness due to the limited availability of HF gas in the process or are burdened by high equipment and maintenance costs stemming from the use of bottled HF gas as a reactant.
Commercially available dynamic FIC equipment currently uses bottled HF gas as the source material. Because HF is an extreme toxin, its use requires expensive, relatively complicated equipment in order to safely handle the HF. In addition, since HF must be used in excess in the cleaning process, the effluent stream also contains HF, requiring a scrubber system and its necessary ancillaries. This combination tends to drive users to employ larger equipment which is segregated from the normal process cells to obtain some economy of scale with the gas handling and treatment systems.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have an effective cleaning method without the associated downfalls of the use of bottled HF gas a source material. Further, it would be desirable to provide an effective cleaning method that reduces or eliminates the need for a separate scrubber system to remove excess HF from the effluent stream.